Saturday, March 1, 2008

Journeys and Destinations

I have consistently said that it it not the destination that matters, rather, it is the journey. But that is not quite correct. A journey requires a destination, and I think that I have lost track of the destination for my journey. Some of you may have heard me joking that there are far too many distracting women around and that I returned to school to study math, not women. But the real reason I returned was people and community, and teaching people what life really means (42?).

I have desperately held onto school and spent so much energy trying to maintain good grades that I forgot what it's all for. It is unlikely that I will live long enough to graduate, possible, but not likely. And yet I am still stubbornly putting all my energy into it. I need to redirect some of that energy into participating in the community, teaching, and living.

I thank my mother and Celia, among others, for helping me realize this.

I don't know if life needs a destination. It's like a good road trip. It's not about the destination you mean to go to but the places you find yourself at along the way. Some are fun, many are boring, a few really suck (ever wind up in a really nasty bathroom in the middle of nowhere?), and a lot are surprising (trying to check into what you think is a Mexican hotel only to find out it is a brothel).

It's not the journey but it's not the destination either. I think it's where you've been and what you've experienced that counts. I hope you take some time to experience life while you can. Pick random things that you've never done and do them.

I don't believe that our trip stops at death. Those of us with the spirit to survive death will go on. We don't know what lies beyond but then we really don't know what life will bring to us from one day to the next either.